In ‘I’m a Kayak, Hear Me Roar,’ we see a big shift in Emily Gilmore. Richard isn’t the only one shaken up by his heart attack - it seems Emily has had to face some fears of her own. One of those appears to be her independence and how life would be if Richard were to die.

Emily, while on one hand babying Richard to make sure his diet and health will be perfect, on the other hand is struggling to keep up his finances. Richard is avoiding work, but his corporate taxes need to be done. In a panic, Emily calls Lorelai for help.

Lorelai drops the “Chris and I broke up” news to Emily, but Emily is gracious about it. She moves on. Very un-Emily. And later, a little tipsy, Emily talks about how life is a canoe and that, with Richard “dropping the paddle”, her canoe is spinning in circles. I think she’s saying she feels lost without Richard by her side. Meanwhile, Emily nearly praises Lorelai, calling her a “kayak” instead - because she can do ‘all this’ (life, business) on her own.

For perhaps the first time, Emily is looking at Lorelai and seeing her independence as an asset to her. She respects Lorelai more. Perhaps this is why Emily is not freaking out about the break-up with Christopher? Perhaps she’s realized that Lorelai doesn’t need to be married to do well with her life?

For me, Season 7 provided some amazing moments between Emily & Lorelai, and I was proud to see their relationship develop. What do you think?

Watch this episode of Gilmore Girls on TheWB.com here.

In the episode ‘Knit, People, Knit‘, we start off with Chris and Lorelai over for dinner with Richard, Emily & Rory. The whole big Gilmore gang. Richard & Lorelai have a gift for the newly-wedded couple… and it’s a painting. The painting, by real artist Kiki Smith, is called “Wolf Girl”. The original painting was done by Kiki in 1999 for her series “Blue Prints.”

What research I’ve done indicates that Kiki was known for her “reflection on human existence” and on “women’s anonymous creativity throughout history.” In addition, she covers “rites of passage” in her art - perhaps rites like marriage. I’m not an art critic, so I don’t know what “Wolf Girl” is supposed to say about Lorelai & Christopher. Do you have ideas?

But I will ask - if Emily & Richard were going to give Luke & Lorelai a house… what does the painting say in comparison?

Watch this episode of Gilmore Girls on TheWB.com here.

Image: Kiki Smith, used for informational analysis only

In ‘Friday Night’s Alright for Fighting,‘ Rory seems very happy to be ungrateful to her grandparents after they took her in and supported her when nobody else would. Sure, they were overbearing and difficult, but why is this news to Rory? So, now she’s decided to let them find out on their own about Christopher paying for Yale without telling them how or why. Even Lorelai thinks this is harsh, and decides to tell them herself. Lorelai tries to tell them it’s not a snub and they are just happy Christopher is trying to be a dad.

Lorelai tries to tell Rory to take the first step with Richard and Emily - to break the ice, like she never did after her own fallout. Lorelai tells Rory that they should go to Friday dinner. When they arrive, Emily snubs them to paint the moon and Richard is stand-offish too. They both laugh at how convenient it was for Christopher to become Rory’s “father” now. The rest of the night continues with many perspectives and many fights, about everything from Rory not leaving a note, to being emotional, to Lorelai reminding Emily they didn’t listen to her about Rory, the DAR, and even Lorelai’s teen pregnancy. In between, there are moments of laughter and calm - it’s the best fight scene of the series, IMHO.

The Fight Scenes:

So, how did the fight help? Was anything resolved? Did they just need to vent? And how come they all managed to stay so calm and collected during it?

Watch ‘Friday Night’s Alright for Fighting’:

Check out Gilmore Girls on TheWB.com here.

Image: TheWB.com

Emily & Richard Gilmore have always thought very highly of the Huntzberger family. In ‘We’ve Got Magic To Do‘, Emily goes so far as to remark, “There’s people, then there’s the Huntzbergers.” It’s like Emily is putting the Huntzberger family higher up the social ladder than the Gilmore family. And yet, when Emily & Richard finally realize that the Huntzbergers mistreated Rory, they seem offended that their “precious family” wouldn’t accept Rory.

When Emily confronts Shira Huntzberger, she is told to consider their discrepancies. That there’s “your money, then there’s our money”, to which Emily reminds Shira that she married “up” into the Huntzberger family herself.

So, just how blind were Richard & Emily? How much did wealth cloud their thoughts? Could it be that they were more willing to forgive Rory of her mistakes, of dropping out of Yale, because she was dating Logan? Why were they so ready to believe everything was a misunderstanding?

Rory herself seems to realize that she may not have dropped out of Yale if it weren’t for what Mitchum said. She seems near to regretting her decision, to basing it on the opinion of someone she clearly dislikes. Perhaps she too was blinded by his wealth and power.

Now, seeing Rory after her successful DAR event, Richard looks disappointed in her. Like having Mitchum to blame for crushing Rory made her dropping out of Yale so much worse than it was before. Which is silly, don’t you think? Why is he only now seeing it for the mistake it clearly was?

Check out Gilmore Girls on TheWB.com here.

Image: TheWB.com

In ‘So… Good Talk‘, Rory continues her obligations of Friday Night Dinners, but she gives Emily the cold shoulder. I’d like to know if you think she was being rude, and if she was, was it fair?

When she arrives at the dinner, Rory gives Emily a limp hug and light conversation, but is very animated and outgoing when talking to Richard. It takes Emily a while to realize she’s being cold-shouldered. Rory is not being overtly rude, but she’s still making her feelings clear.

Emily accuses Rory of letting Lorelai influence her attitude, which she thinks is unfair. Desperate, she even reminds Rory of her ‘contract’ to be pleasant at the Friday dinners. Rory only responds, in reference to the casual postcards Emily has been sending to Lorelai (like nothing was wrong):

“What did you expect? Ten Acropolis postcards and I forget the fact that you broke up Mom and Luke? Now, I respect our contract. And I will continue to come every Friday night and eat dinner with you. But I won’t guarantee an attitude that will please you.”

Here was the trailer for this ‘hostilities’-filled episode:

This attitude of Rory’s clearly shocks both Emily and Richard. And maybe it helps Emily see that she can’t win, not in this fight. Lorelai can’t be forced into a relationship not of her choosing. But, that aside, I wonder - do you think Rory was too rude? Was she disrespectful? Or was her calm explanation of her cold behavior an act of respect for her grandparents, though she disrespects Emily’s actions (if that makes sense)?

Check out this episode to watch in full (for a limited time) on TheWB.com here.

Image: TheWB.com

Imagine if Richard Gilmore (Edward Herrmann) didn’t work in insurance on Gilmore Girls. Yes, it’s *so much* a part of his character, but it’s not until Richard starts his own business that we really hear much about it. Otherwise, we just know he travels a lot and meets with a lot of clients. So, what if he wasn’t in insurance? What if he were a secret agent?

I know, that sounds silly, but it’s the theme of a fan video that caught my attention a while back while I was creating the Ode to Richard & Emily post. Check it out “Richard Gilmore - Secret Agent Man”:

Awesome video, don’t you think??

If you’re a big fan of Gilmore Girls fan videos, I’m looking for a guest contributor for a fan video column. We used to have a great column from another fan (see here) and I’d like to do that again. If you’re interested in submitting a review every week or two, let me know!

In Gilmore Girls episode, ‘Come Home‘, it’s Richard’s jealousy of Simon that seems to help him reconcile things with Emily. Emily went on a date with Simon - a date that went well, but which reduced her to tears later. When Richard sees Simon flirting with Emily at an event, he smashes into the back of Emily’s car and yells at Simon to go away.

Richard reasserts himself as Emily’s husband and vents about Emily dating while he never dated Pennilyn. When they arrive home, Richard tells Emily he doesn’t want to go to the pool house. Emily tells him, “come home,” as simple as that. And it’s not long before their kissing and planning to renew their wedding vows!

So, was jealousy the trick? And is jealousy a Gilmore Girls theme? Remember when Jess dated Shane to make Rory jealous? I know Emily wasn’t purposefully making Richard jealous by dating Simon (or was she?), but it seemed to get her what she wanted - Richard back. Who else can you think of as using the jealousy trick to get what they want?

Watch “Gilmore Girls” ‘Come Home’

After writing about the sad episode ‘Emily Says Hello‘ and Emily Gilmore’s decision to date, I thought we could all use some reminders of the true love shared between Richard Gilmore (Edward Herrmann) and Emily Gilmore (Kelly Bishop). Here are some fan montage videos of this fantastic Gilmore Girls couple:

This first one is my favorite. It’s so romantic - and so filled with longing! Read more

In Gilmore Girls episode ‘Emily Says Hello‘, Emily Gilmore (Kelly Bishop) decides it’s time for her to start dating. Emily & Richard Gilmore (Edward Herrmann) have been separated for some time now. Lorelai first noticed abnormalities between her parents in the episode ‘Afterboom‘ in Season 4, but it’s not until ‘Say Goodbye to Daisy Miller,’ the premiere of Season 5, that Emily “officially” tells Lorelai and Rory about the separation.

In that episode, Emily accuses Richard of changing - not only does she feel like she doesn’t know him, but she feels like he no longer respects her, consults her or treats her as a partner. Although Emily has been living in a hotel, they make it final that Richard will move the the pool house while Emily will live in the main house. Speed up now to the 9th episode and Emily is ready to date.

Emily told Lorelai she was convinced that reconciliation with Richard was not an option because he neglected to pass her the butter at an event. Given that, she immediately decides to date. Do you think this was because she wanted to prove to herself that the relationship was over? Or maybe the reverse? Read more

I was thinking about family today, perhaps because this weekend was Thanksgiving in Canada. And while thinking of family I thought of Richard Gilmore, and how much he evolved on Gilmore Girls, and wanted to take an opportunity to acknowledge that. Also, during my research, I came across some great photos of Edward Herrmann with his wife Star and daughter Emma, though the latest photo (below) was from August of 2007.

Image: used with permission by Newscom

So, before jumping on to see more photos of Edward as himself and as Richard Gilmore, I wanted to talk about Richard on Gilmore Girls. How he changed his perspective of family, and perhaps we can discuss why. I will use some video clips to illustrate the essay.

Richard Gilmore grew up with a rather strict and aloof mother, Lorelai “Trix” Gilmore, who loved him and showed it, but had him make his own mistakes in life. He married Emily, whom he loved dearly, against his mother’s wishes. And he was a proud proud man, sometimes too proud. When little Lorelai was born, he had dreams for her to follow in his footsteps - to go to Yale, to be someone important. Read more